Builder to cough up Rs 6 lakh

The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered Sheth Developers, a builder, to refund Rs 6 lakh to a Navi Mumbai woman after it failed to hand over possession of a flat she bought from them on schedule.

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On August 30, 1997, Dr Pradnya Sanjay Wakpainjan, a resident of ONGC Colony in CBD entered into an agreement with Sheth Developers Ltd, to purchase a flat in Vasant Leela, a township at Ghodbunder Road, Thane. The amount payable was Rs 8.03 lakh. The agreement stipulated that possession would be handed over to her in October 1998. Wakpainjan paid an advance of Rs 6.32 lakh.

However, the builder readied the flat for handing over only by May 1999. Wakpainjan, who is a reader at SNDT Women’s University’s Department of Education, sent the company a legal notice, demanding a refund of 6.32 lakh, plus Rs 26,950 which she’d paid towards stamp duty, and another Rs 50,000 in damages.

Sanjay Wakpainjan, Pradnya’s husband said, “According to the agreement, we were entitled to a full refund. By the time we got the flat, we had made up our mind that we were not interested. The builder’s men insisted that we had to take the flat, forcing us to go to court.”

A bench comprising Presiding Member PN Kashalkar and member Narendra Kawde said, “It is a fact that the agreement has been executed and fees paid on account of registration deposited to the state coffers.

In view of this, request of the complainant to refund this amount cannot be entertained… [the] voluntary act of the complainant to insist for refund of consideration already paid [means] refunding an amount of Rs 6,32,000 with 6 per cent interest is justified since it is a voluntary act to revoke the agreement.”